Have a look at this one for the future. It's a subsidiary of Oxus Gold which has been going great guns for the last nine months. Bill Trew has turned Oxus round since the beginning of February - asking price then 10.35, now 81 - and I bet he will do the same with Marakand. The asking price on Thursday should open at 20p, unless the MMs mess about with the price. For those of you not familiar with this opportunity I will post some more info later.

Scotinvestor,

Yes they will issue you FREE one Marakand share for every 10 that you currently hold in Oxus.

This is equivalent to a special dividend, of approximately 3-4%.

normally the value of Oxus, would decline after such a move, as they have lost the value of the assets, ie Khandiza, but as they were never fully accounted for in the balance sheet, IMHO, I'm hopeful that won't happen this time.

And of course Oxus are retaining 60% of Marakand shares, so if Marakand increases in value, this will increase the assets held by Oxus, and hopefully he shareprice!

This looks like a win win situation all round.

A private placement of 20 million shares at 20p per share in Marakand, plus 20 million attached warrants exerciseable at 40p per share, has already raised 4 million pounds, so I would assess that the company has already gained quite a large cult -and not a small one as Hawick suggests. Also I think the argument about not being in a stable area of the world is an old one, and is no longer valid. I'm not at all sure about Yamana, if I was looking to add another gold share to my portfolio right now YAU wouldn't be in the top six of possible candidates.

Yamana's pullback after a good recent run makes it really attractive even on modest gold price estimates. Unfortunately saw a report on Bloomberg suggesting conditions where Marakand are to operate are getting worse politically, not better. Too guessy for me, no production for two years, no profits for another year or two thereafter, marakand too much of a stab in the dark, won't be bothering for a long term investment.
May get some speculative interest to start with might even be tempted for, say a week or two as could even be a good short term trading play, especially if it has as you say a big cult, but once any excitement has gone going to be a long slog for shareholders waiting for the quarterly progress reports, year after year. Been in mining exploration stocks too often, know the frustrating problems that are usually encountered along the way. No real reason to think this will be any different. Wonder why Oxus floating it off too........

Hawick,

Nice subtle deramp!

I don't think there is any worsening of the political situation at all, and S. America could just as easily be considered to be worsening too, IMHO.

Marakand is being floated so that Oxus can concentrate on being a gold producer.

Bill Trew and his team have gained considerable respect in the way they have turned Oxus around, so there's no reason to suspect they will fail to deliver, as they have met their objectives so far.

Next landmark is the gold pour, due on Xmas day!

Let's judge them when we see if they achieve it!

I think they will.

As I've said on the Yamana thread hawick, one of the problems with holding shares which are also dealt on other markets is that you are at the mercy of the other markets. I think Yamana have gone down about 11p since they started trading over here.
You're entitled to your opinion on Marakand - and time will tell. I've read comtless comments by posters on other bulletin boards saying " I wish I had bought into Oxus when it was valued at 10p ". The way Bill Trew operates Marakand could well become another Oxus. - I've tried to find the Bloomberg report and couldn't find it - was it a recent one?

Not a deramp. If I could be accused of anything probably the reverse if I am interested in short term trading. Don't think anyone will take a blind bit of notice what I say anyway! Good luck with it though, will watch the opening day or two to see if I think any trading opportunity. Do you know the ticker?

I think it's MKD

Cheersas i say scottie good luck. (No probs with others doing well!!! hope you do), will watch it closely!

Flying already, ask price now 30p.

Ah but did you get up in time! Clearly got some day trader interest, as i thought, on other boards. I'd cash in fast if you did, and buy back when things settle Scottie. Happy profiteering.

Scottie,

MKD price has risen, now 36.5p mid!

Hi Hawick,

Thanks again for SVR tip. I'm not sure MKD price will drop, to be honest! I um'd & ah'd about buying first thing, hit the cancel button for my online trade (at 26p!!!) & have been regretting it ever since. A quick run round the BB's suggests there are many people like me, just waiting to grab these shares on a pullback.... No-one could've expected it to go up so quickly and, given that OXS own 80% of the shares in MKD and the MMs were only given 2 million (so I've heard), what motive have the MMs got to bring the price down. They don't have enough stock to cope with the private investors demand IMO. OXS won't be trading in and out, so who's gonna sell!?

Now up to 36/39 as I type!

SB

Dont forget though SB nothing comes on tap until December 2005 at the earliest.

This one is a speculators dream but I would be watching very carefully over the next 2 days. Hawick is correct, cash in on any weakness as it is obvious short term merchants are aboard and they will leave when they have made their cut.

cheers GF.

I think we'll see a sell off when the share dividend is given out to the OXS shareholders. Until then, I can't see it going below 30p bid. I will not be buying at these levels, however, thanks for the sound advice GF!

SB

when was the cut-off date to buy into oxus gold shares so as to qualify for marakand shares? does anyone know? i bought into oxus last week.

thanks

Thanks Scottie for this tip, boy am I kicking myself now, wished I had got my lazy ass out of bed this morning!!

Scotinvestor,

No it has not been decided, but will not be before January 2004.

I spoke to the company yesterday, and there has to be an EGM first, and that there has to be a 21 day advance notice of this, so realistically, that leads us into January now.

If permission is given at the EGM, (and that seems likely, IMHO!) they then have to attend court for a final ok, so mid January looks the earliest this is likely to happen.

Well, I've got my free MKD shares with IG Index too, but HERE'S the interesting thing....

I can sell them now and I can SHORT MKD if I want to!!!!!!!!!

Could create some downward pressure sooner than anticipated!!!!

I'm sure there are short term investors on board this one - but more importantly there are serious long term investors on board who have seen what has happened to the Oxus share price over the last twelve months.

Share Bear,

I agree, not much chance of a sell off of either share until the shares are handed out, and probably not too much then either.

And even then, if Oxus have completed the first gold pour on schedule, why would people sell, when this looks a decent investment in it's own right?

I think Marakand will be a hold whilst Oxus continue to fulfill their promises, and they have so far.

Bill Trew has impressed the city with the turnaround of Oxus, I'm sure he's just as anxious to make that same impression with Marakand.

I am not selling mine, MKD are a long term hold, IMHO.